25th Letter 8-26-13

Dear Family,

The new area is pretty awesome! I am with Elders Rampton and Kasten. Elder Kasten leaves in like a week and a half. Training Elder Rampton is fun. He listens very well and applies what I have to teach him. He is a great missionary and has great potential.

The ward is pretty cool. The first night I got here the Larsen's fed us dinner and sent pictures to our parents. Their son just got a call to Brazil so I talked to him about the MTC and what not. Tuesday was a pretty busy day. We went to the library to take a Preach My Gospel survey and after went to ARC, a donation center where we served for a couple hours. We met a lady there that was out of her mind. She was talking about how Obama is a communist and how he has a Islam brother that lives in the White House and is trying to take down our country.  She gave us all this paperwork about it.  It was so funny 'cause when she was talking about it to us she was acting like people, the government, were listening to her so she was acting very sketchy. Dinner with Bishop's family was fun. He beat me in ping pong so that humbled me a little, haha.

Wednesday we got to go to the temple!!! Wow, the new additions to it is amazing! I wish I could go everyday! I got to drive to the temple and back and it was a blast. I miss driving so much. Going to the temple just brightens your week. It really is refreshing to just sit down, think and relax for awhile. After the temple we went and taught Dustin, an investigator who is on date for baptism September 3rd, but we are gonna have to move it later. We taught him Lesson 2, Plan of Salvation, it went so good! He really wants to understand every part of the lessons because he wants to teach others it as well. Also, we met with the Hanks. They are a nice older couple. They go to church every week, but still haven't been baptized. Later that night we went on splits so Elder Rampton and I were together. We went to the apartments and tried a few people. A bunch of cops with AK47's showed up as we were leaving and as we rode by they asked if we had seen anyone with a gun -haha. So we left to the next neighborhood and tried a few doors and ran into a lady named Harley. She first came outside and said she wasn't interested, but we could tell she was. We asked her a few questions and Elder Rampton asked if she knew why we were called Mormons. She didn't know so we told her. We are now going back Tuesday to give her a Book of Mormon! : ) When we got home that night Elders Kasten and Rampton got in a little fight. We resolved it and I think they are good now.

Thursday, we had district meeting and I taught on Our Purpose. We taught Darren a lesson on being like Captain Moroni. He is 11 and wants to be in the Army, so I think he liked the lesson. After dinner with the Pratts, we had Bro. Morning come with us to teach a lesson.  Bro. Morning is like 70. So the family we were gonna teach wasn't there so as I walked out of the hallway of the apartment complex this guy was sitting there glaring at me. I asked him if we could help him with anything and he said, "Can I help you with anything!"  This guy was like 45, but was acting like a 16 year old. We talked to him for a bit and found out he was atheist. He talked bad on our church and said he could convert us to atheism in an hour, haha. He rambled on and contradicted himself several times. Didn't make much sense. Overall it was pretty funny and it strengthened my testimony. Bro. Morning just laughed most the time at the guy, haha.

Friday we volunteered at the Food Bank and had weekly planning. We met Lynn, who is a solid Christian. He was super nice to us and showed a lot of respect towards our church. He is very active in a church nearby, but said he wanted to read the Book of Mormon so we gave him one! He is a true Christian man. The ward had an ice cream social and a ton of investigators showed up. After we watched the Prophet of the Restoration with Dustin and Tasha.

Saturday we got to watch the Fort Collins temple groundbreaking. After we had a BBQ at the Conlie's. Bro. Conlie is so funny! He is a jokester and calls everyone a turkey...turkey lips, turkey brain, etc...  He is a goof! Sunday church was good. The ward isn't as friendly as the other wards I've been in here, but I think it is because it has a lot of old people. The building we meet in is an old Lutheran church. I'll need to take a picture. We gave two blessings during church, which was cool! After church we taught Eli, a 9 year old. His mom is a lesbian, but still loves our church and wants her son baptized. I think it's pretty cool, the lesbian couple comes to our church.

Mom, you know the Allen's from Saint George? Their daughter is in this ward along with a Bowler brother. Thank you for the cookies and picture! I love that picture and look at it everyday! That is awesome you get to teach gospel doctrine now. You are gonna be a great teacher! Also, you get to teach the 16-17 year olds? You have the best calling ever! : ) They are really using your talents in the ward! Thank you so much for praying for my visa to arrive. I am praying hard too, but of course Heavenly Father's will is more important. We shall see what happens. Did you get my package I sent home?

Dad, thanks for calling to see what is up with my visa. I hope the lady wasn't mad that you called. Knowing there are others that have been waiting even longer then I have kinda brings some comfort. Thanks Dad. Also, thanks for the new pants! They fit perfectly and are very cool. Good to hear Dixie is doing okay in football. The attachments you sent me are awesome! Too bad they lost though...

I love this work so much. Amazing how the Spirit directs us everyday. At times I feel like my mind really is taken over by the spirit. I love feeling this growth of my testimony and seeing others grow as well.  This work is true and I wouldn't wanna be doing anything else.

I miss you and love you all so much!

Take Care,

Elder Hauck

24th Letter 8-19-13

Pictures. Elder Krough and I with Brother Robles and his wife (top) and with Ian (bottom)

Dear Awesome Family,

Another awesome week! And guess what? I'm getting transferred to Arvada again. This time I will be training someone though. This surprised me because they never have missionaries waiting for visas train.  Monday we had a great P-day, of course being able to go see some football was the best part. That night, though, we had a way good lesson with James. We had it at Brother Stewart's home, so it wasn't so crazy with kids running around. We talked a lot about the Priesthood. Brother Stewart and James are very similar so his testimony really hit home. FHE with the Deems family was fun and the rest of that night was good. Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 6am we are able to go to Cross Fit at the Stake Center. It has been nice being able to go get some real exercise!

Tuesday we helped Ian move out of his crazy house he was living in.  He rented a moving truck and we helped load it. When we were moving stuff from the garage to the truck the girls that lived there came out and started flirting with us. One was wearing a disgusting shirt that had some very inappropriate stuff on it. That kind of made me mad, but we hurried and loaded everything up and got on our way. Ian has had a hard time finding a place to live and also got fired from is job.  He is still fighting strong and came to church and still wants to be baptized. Really a trial of his faith. That night we saw the Hahns and taught the Plan of Salvation. It went great and fit well for them with their Grandfather passing.

Wednesday we helped Patty with some renovations in her kitchen and taught her a lesson. She is so sweet! After dinner we taught Chuck and Heather, a referral couple from a member.  The lesson went so well!! I love when lessons go great! I hope they continue to take the lessons and search for truth!

Thursday we had brunch with Brother Robles. He is from Bolivia and goes to lessons with us sometimes. I'll send a picture of us with him. The lesson with Scott went great. We found his concern, it was the Book of Mormon...he doesn't know it's true yet. When I asked him if he believed in the BOM it kind of shocked him and he didn't know. He is an optometrist and has come to church for almost a year. He is in 3rd Nephi and really wants to be baptized, but hasn't received an answer. Brother Robles came with us to teach Isaac. We taught him how to pray. It was a quick lesson, but I think It helped!

Friday we found out Kaleb is staying here in CO so we put him on date for baptism the 14th of Sept. He is a cool kid and wants me to be there for his baptism. The Hahns lesson went super well! Lily told Elder Tonga and I that she isn't against being baptized in our church now. Which is amazing! I almost started crying when she told us that. They are ready for Baptism! Dinner with Dilma and Sister Burk was awesome to end the night!

Saturday we taught Ian again and also the Hahns. Their Grandfather died Sunday morning... Really sad. Said my goodbyes that night to everyone.  I hate saying goodbyes. Sunday was the usual, but at night there was a musical fireside, which was awesome!! The Hampden Hill's ward was awesome and I loved serving there. We found 9 new investigators and upped our lessons from 11 to 18 a week . Hopefully Arvada 2nd is alright!- haha. Saturday night was hard. I thought my visa would be in by now and President Toombs called and told me it hadn't come. Dad can you call the mission people that deal with visas and see what's up? Elders and sister that haven't even been out a transfer are getting them and they are from Utah too.

Glad to hear Jeff got a solid job and maybe a baby soon?! Wow!! : ) Also glad to hear that Steph is excited to go to UVU. She will have a blast meeting new people! Amish good luck with school and everything! Dad, you are right about Mom...Heavenly Father must really love us to give us such a great mom, or wife for you.  My wife has some big shoes to fill.  Dad, sounds like you have too much free time watching Duck Dynasty? -haha just playing. That show teaches some great values in life.....ha. Love you Dad. Will you call about my visa?

Mom, lucky you. You get to watch Emme! Please send the pants to 1250 Main Street Broomfield, CO 80020. That is the mission office. I like the original Chips Ahoy and homemade cookies. I end up having cookies every night! : ) You can send whatever you want, though, homemade preferably. Oh, and what size are the pants? I've lost some weight so 32x32 should be good. Pretty much Dad's size. If they are bigger it's fine. Glad to hear your Sunday School class is going awesome as always!

Family I love you guys so much! I miss you a lot and can't wait to see you all after the mission! : )

Love, Elder Hauck

23rd Letter 8-12-13

Photos: P-day and Bronco Football Training Camp

Family,

This past week has been amazing! I keep telling myself my mission couldn't get better, but somehow it keeps getting better and better. I don't know about easier, but the hard work is keeping us busy and focused! I have learned to love hard work! On Tuesday we helped Patty with her side yard. We cleaned out the planter and put down black weed barrier and covered in with mulch. She made us lunch and her nephew and friend showed up. Patty is a Catholic, but loves the Book of Mormon. So when the nephew and friend started asking questions Patty told them they needed to read the Book of Mormon. She told them that it is an amazing book. She is doing our missionary work for us and she isn't even a member. Elder Krogh and I were pretty amazed by that. So somehow the Hahns got permission from our President for Elder Tonga and I to teach them. Twice a week we get to go on exchanges and teach them.  So Tuesday night we taught them the Restoration. It was very powerful and I know it touched them! The Hahns have had a hard time...their grandpa just got diagnosed with colon cancer and they got in a car crash.

Wednesday we have a new investigator that we put on date today! His name is Ian. He is super solid and is 110% dedicated to being baptized Sept. 7th. We teach him like 2-3 times a week. James is very close to finding an answer. I think all we need to do is boost his confidence. After teaching James we had dinner with a family whose husband went to Brazil on his mission. We had a Brazilian dessert that was way good! We talked a little Portuguese. That night we taught the Flores's the restoration. We showed them the long restoration video and they loved it. By the end the mother was crying. We invited them to pray and find out if this is all true and they accepted.

Thursday, we had zone conference for like 8 hours. It was long, but it was great! I learned a lot! Something I learned is I need to strengthen my faith. We also made our mission visions. Doing this really opened my eyes to what I need to focus on in the mission and to keep the motivation. That night we met with Isaac, a new investigator. We taught part of the Restoration and he immediately opened up to us and told us some very spiritual personal stuff. He told us another story of him being robbed and the guy tried to shoot him, but the gun kept jamming. The last story he told me almost put me in tears.  He is from Mexico so this happened there. A boy had a mother with one eye, The son was always very embarrassed of his mother because she only had one eye. When the boy was at school he would always hide from his mother because of it. Once the boy grew old enough he moved away from his mother. Years pass and one day the once boy that was a man now had a family. His son answered the door one morning to find a old lady with one eye. The boy was so scared he closed the door and ran to his dad. The dad went outside and told his old mother to stay away from his family, because she is scaring his children... the mother, very discouraged and sad, walks away. Years pass and the mother of the boy who became a man died. The now father (boy who rejected his mother) received a letter from his mother's will. It told the son of his mother's love for him and that she forgave him for rejecting her. The letter went on to tell the son of him when he was born having only one good eye. His mother is the one that gave him his other good eye and the son never knew until his mother was already dead...

Friday, we taught Kaleb, another new investigator, lesson one and then taught Ian again. His roommates are making it hard for him to live there so he is looking for a new place. I guess that S.W.A.T team showed up when he was working in the middle of the night and found weed his roommates were growing.  Ian told us of his receiving an answer when he prayed to find out if this is all true. It is amazing seeing all these people receive an answer of this gospel's truthfulness! This whole week it rained a ton, but today was the most! The lightning and thunder is crazy!

Saturday we had a ward picnic. Invited a lot of investigators, but none showed up. It was still way fun though! After we stopped by the Flores family and talked to them more about the Restoration. The Grandparents and mother are way interested!

Sunday meetings and church were awesome. Ian came and stayed for all three hours. He was even answering questions in Sunday School and Priesthood! After Dinner with the Cambells I got to give their neighbor, a less-active lady, a blessing! She fell while running and scraped up her face pretty bad.

Mom, I'm so glad to hear you are helping the missionaries! I can tell you and Dad are great member missionaries! Keep it up, okay! I can't believe Emme is crawling and can almost walk? Don't let her learn to walk! Glad to hear Ben's homecoming was good! Love you Mommy! : )

Dad, I'm glad my advice helped with your talk. I know now where my babyness came from... haha and I see you have been watching Duck Dynasty? haha... at-a-boy! Colorado is getting a lot cooler as well. I love the rain! This morning for P-day we got to go to the Broncos training camp. It was so cool! It made me miss football a lot though. I'll add some pictures. Excited to hear you are going to a good BYU game.  Hopefully Bronco gets done reading his books in time to get the team ready.  You are right about not caring so much about sports, news, and everything else. It's an interesting experience. Thanks for the Portuguese letters!

This work has changed my life. My testimony is reaching strengths I never knew were there. I know and feel the truthfulness of what I teach. Sometimes I just open my mouth and words come out. Sometimes I feel like I'm not even controlling my brain cause I know my brain can't work as fast as it does sometimes during lessons... Kinda weird, but amazing! haha

I miss you guys a lot! Tell everyone I love them!

Hope everything is well.

Love,

Elder Hauck

22nd Letter 8-5-13

Family,

The week was awesome (again)!! It rained almost everyday, and being on a bike the rain helps cool us off! Elder Krogh and I are doing great! Monday night we taught a less-active sister. She is awesome! We taught her The Gospel of Jesus Christ! It was an amazing lesson! The spirit was so strong! I love lessons that go perfect! I feel like I get almost as much out of them as the person we are teaching does. By the end of the lesson she really opened up to us and told us she has felt the spirit and that she has forgotten the gospel of this church and she wants it back! Tuesday was a slow day, but that happens once in a while. That night I went on exchanges with Elder Tonga for his court date (for the fight he had with the two punks back in June) on Wednesday. The Hahn's took us and it was all pretty pointless. They moved his court date because they didn't have all the police reports.

The Hahn's asked a lot of good questions and they pretty much want to take the lessons. Which is amazing because they used to be way against the Church and our beliefs. They want Elder Tonga and I to teach the lessons to them, but we aren't in their area any more. I just found out last night that Tony Hahn called President Toombs and he said Elder Tonga and I can teach them! I never thought that would happen... I'm way excited though! They are ready for this!

Thursday we ran into a potential investigator named Patty. She is awesome! She asked a lot of questions about  the Book of Mormon and Christ coming to the America's. She seemed very interested and wanted us to come back this week! Then we had dinner with Bishop Monson. His family is awesome! After we talked with James about faith. He notices that he really needs to strengthen his faith. He wants to be baptized, but just wants to believe all of it.

Friday, we helped Dilma Ray with her yard and she even made us breakfast! She is an amazing lady! After that Sister Lindsay took us out to eat with Lilia and her daughters.  It was fun to catch up with Lilia! Dinner was with a less-active family. They seem like a great family that prays and reads together. They were offended 8 years ago in this same ward and haven't come back since... It's so sad that these people stay offended for so long.  I hope what I told them can help them.  That night we did exchanges with the zone leaders. Elder Elton came to my area, so it was kind of hard because I have only been here two weeks, but my direction and map skills have improved a ton so it was easy! I think I can thank the paper route for this one.

Saturday was awesome! Dilma had her baptism in the morning. President Todd baptized her. I got to be a witness. When she was in the font with President Todd the spirit was so strong! When he started to say the prayers Dilma started to cry a little. Being right there to see all of this and feel all of this really strengthened my testimony in knowing this is the true order of baptism. After the baptism Elder Elton and I went out for the day. Ran into sister Tiato's husband (6'6" and probably 400 lbs), he was a teddy bear though! He isn't a member, but he invited us to talk with him under a tree by his house and he asked some great questions. He even told us to come back this week!! That night we got caught in a monsoon!! haha I thought I had seen a rain storm before, but this was CRAZY!  In seconds we were soaked! We were on our bikes and were pretty far from home. What was good about the whole thing is a random family let us hang out in their garage for a bit. They talked to us for about an hour until the storm passed. Riding in the storm was a blast! Even though I think my pants got ruined and some water damage in my backpack, it was all worth it!

Sunday we were riding around before church and I decided to go talk to this guy in his garage. His name was Rick, a super chill guy. He opened up to us very quick and told us he feels like God doesn't love him. We told him what we believe and he told us we inspired him. He told us he felt good around us, but when we asked to come back he told us this inspiration he has gotten was enough... "No, it's not enough though! Let us bring this good feeling to you again!!" Hopefully he thinks about it and calls us soon.

At church this guy named Ian showed up and pretty much told us he wants the lessons so he can be baptized. It is crazy how fast this work is growing! People are coming to us now! Haha. After church and dinner we tried a few houses and got some set lessons for this week. Then on the way home I saw a guy in his garage. Elder Krogh has a goal to OYM (open your mouth) with people, so I'm helping him with that. I told him to go talk to this guy about what he's doing, if he needs help, and to introduce our purpose to him. The man, Burt, accepted us well and we taught him part of Lesson One on the spot! This work is so much bigger than all of us! I have really seen the power of God since being out here serving the Lord!

Mom, I'm glad you are helping the missionaries out back home! My advice would be to go take some cookies over and first invite them over for dinner. This is how you will get to know them. Then wait a week or so and invite them again, but this time have the missionaries over too! Let the Steads know before hand that the missionaries are coming as well to teach our family and would love for them to be with you. Of course pray for further guidance! : )

Mom I think you are AMAZING!!

Glad to hear Ben made it back from his mission in Chile! I bet he has grown a ton spiritually! Tell him I say hello! I hear the new change at the temple is cool, hopefully I get to go soon! 

Steph, I'm excited for you to go away for school! Get as much out of it as you can! You will realize while you are away that Mom and Dad are actually very smart and know what is best! Haha... Really though this time you will be away will grow you up fast! One thing I want you to remember is that spiritual growth comes first. The first few weeks at the U I didn't go to church. I felt preparing for the upcoming week of school was more important. I soon realized it wasn't! Once I started going to church and institute every week I felt school get easier! Crazy how it worked out!  I'm proud of you and will pray for you! I Love you Steph!

Amy, good luck with school!! I love you!

Dad, your upcoming talk in church is going to be amazing! I'm sure you have thought a lot about it, but hopefully what I say can help. The change in missionary work has changed the way we need to work. Hastening the work of salvation is here and we are starting the harvest! Being out here on my mission I see this change and growth first hand! The flood gates have opened of the gathering of God's elect and we must be ready! The members need to be living the gospel to the T! Members also need to study the gospel, especially using Preach My Gospel will help! Help others not be scared of opening their mouths!  D&C 84:85 is a great verse.

I hope that helped a little..

I want all of you to know that we are all missionaries of our Heavenly Father. This gospel has blessed all of our lives so much and we need to share it with others. Being out here on the mission has opened my eyes. I now know that everyone needs this gospel in their life! This is the path to true happiness!

I love you all so much and hope everything is going well!

Love,

Elder Hauck